December 13, 2010

Go Seahawks (Piss Everybody Off)

The flood has arrived- It seems like the entire Seahawks fan base is jumping on the "I don't want to be a 7-9 playoff team" bandwagon right now.

No sale here, boys and girls. First of all, I haven't given up hope that the Seahawks will win two out of the last three and avoid the "cursed mark of 7-9." Atlanta could be caught flat-footed if Seattle plays its best football, and Tampa is not an unstoppable juggernaut. BMW and Obo's returns won't solve EVERY issue, but the team will be better next week than it was yesterday. Anyway, onto destroying the arguments that it's BETTER for the Seahawks to miss the playoffs.

1. Draft StatusI've NEVER understood fans who root for their team to lose to get a better draft choice. First, the draft is a complete fucking crapshoot. Andrew Luck could be Payton Manning or he could be Ryan Leaf- Carolina won't know the answer for a good long while (and they'll pick him- Clausen aint shit). Second, the players have NO incentive to lay down so the organization gets a higher pick the next year. Why? BECAUSE THE TEAM MIGHT DRAFT THEIR REPLACEMENT! Sure, some NFL teams start "running for the bus" this time of year, but no one is intentionally trying to lose. Why? Because that's fucking stupid. In addition, players are auditioning for not only their current job, but other jobs they might vie for later on...

OK, players are short-sighted. Maybe you could even argue that coaches are so focused on keeping their current jobs that they are blinded to the glorious awesomeness of a higher draft pick in the following year's draft- what about front office people? Do you REALLY think that John Schneider or ANY other GM around the league is thinking "You know, we have a chance at the playoffs, but I'd much rather the team lose out and make me look like a schmuck so we can get a higher draft pick." Nuh-uh. If winning the highest possible draft pick was SO CLEARLY the right way to go, why did Buffalo win yesterday?

(There's also a weird undercurrent here of "Can't they SEE? It's so much better to get a higher draft choice! How can Carroll be so stupid?" They see just fine, as do the coaches and GMs on all 31 other teams as well. Maybe they know something we don't?)

2. Avoiding InfamyThis has been going around too- The notion that we don't want our franchise to be the first losing team to make the playoffs... This is basically the "THEY'RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU" argument.

You know what? Fuck everybody else. No one else outside of this fan base gives a squirt of piss about our franchise. Why should I start caring about what all the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity think NOW? Somebody is going to win this division, and they will probably be 7-9. Do you think that Arizona, SF or STL would DECLINE an invite to the playoffs, because they don't want to stain NFL history by being the first losing team in the post season? I don't think so. This seems to be a mental malady localized among the Twelve Army.

To the rest of the NFL-watching public, the Seahawks are a nondescript bluish blob. I don't think a little infamy is necessarily a bad thing in the big picture.

Finally, wouldn't it be fucking sweet to be the first losing team to WIN a playoff game? :)

3. Preemptive Defeatism There's also the notion that we don't want to make the playoffs because we'll get terribly creamed in the first round. Maybe. We've certainly shown a tendency towards this with SEVEN DOUBLE DIGIT LOSSES this year- But like John Connor said once- "The future is not set."

In any case, do you think this is how ANY fans in Arizona, SF or STL are thinking? Do you think ANY of them are saying "Shit, bro, I hope we miss the playoffs so Seattle can get creamed by New Orleans!" NOPE.

Sometimes I have a VERY hard time relating to this current among Seahawks fans of knee-jerk defeatism and negativity- At this point, it's really curdled into something twisted and counterproductive.

Let me wrap this up- Aside from the noise we make at Qwest, we don't control the outcome of the games. No matter how much we type in all-caps on internet message boards, and even if we marched on VMAC, torches and pitchforks in hand, DEMANDING that the Seahawks throw the rest of the games to miss the playoffs, they won't oblige us. So why not root for them to win? Someone has to win the NFC West- Why Not Us?

Once again, the simple question is this: If the Seahawks enter the final Sunday 6-9, but with a chance to make the playoffs with a win over the Rams, do you root for them or against them?

If you chose "against," please give your tickets to someone who will still give this team 100% all-out support. If you chose "against?" Well, I don't know what to say to you other than "Good Day, Sir."

9 comments:

As one of the folks who has drawn your ire, let me attempt to clear up a few things. I don't disagree with the bulk of what you've written here, which is why I think there is some misunderstanding. I'm certainly not suggesting the Seahawks players anyone in the organization should orchestrate a dive. In fact, one of my reasons for optimism down the line is the spirit Pete Carroll has instilled.

The core of my thought is that I want a Super Bowl. I could give a rats ass about making the playoffs just to make it. This franchise has been managed so poorly in the Ruskell era that our best players weren't added until this past off-season. We need a major infusion of talent.

I could get excited about a playoff run this season if there was at least some reason to believe a playoff win was possible. I believe there is 0% chance of that now. It is comforting to step back and realize that the pain of watching this team crash land will not be without reward. The upcoming draft has talent that could define a franchise. A higher pick *does* matter. Sure it's a lottery, but take a look at the Pro Bowl roster each year and you'll see the percentages are much more in your favor the higher you pick (it's not just the 1st round, remember). Add to that a near-perfect 1st draft from Carroll/Schneider, and I there's reason to believe the Seahawks will make the most of that pick.

Being someone who is at wits end trying to talk reason into people that blame all this on Hasselbeck, I'm not here to convince you to give up. I celebrate your optimism.

However, I think it's way below you to suggest that fans who feel differently than you are somehow less. Being a lifelong Seahawks/Blazers/Mariners fan leads some of us to develop some defense mechanisms to all the pain and suffering. In this particular case, I'm genuinely at peace with whatever the season brings, but believe the straightest path back to a Super Bowl is through adding more talent. I think we're one off-season from being ready to win 10+ games. I'm willing to miss a division title for that.

..and if we fail to win the division, I'll be like- "Oh well, at least we get a better draft pick."

Until then, I want the team to WIN. Period. Full Stop. End of Line.

And I disagree about us having 0% chance to win a playoff game- I still think if we've got a healthy BMW we could pull off an upset at Qwest (including next week).

To some degree this is semantic- We agree that IF we miss the playoffs, it'll be nice to get a higher draft pick.

I'm sure you're a true-blue fan, Hawk Blogger- but out there are a LOT of "fans" who literally, actually ARE rooting against the Seahawks right now. It makes my blood boil.

If all you're pointing out is that "hey, if we miss the playoffs, we get a sweet draft pick." Great! I agree... and I think when it comes down to it, no matter what you write, YOU will be cheering your guts out week 17 :)

Back to the head/heart thing- I don't even think the "head" should want the Seahawks to lose out for a higher pick. If that was the best, most clearly rational course of action, teams out of playoff contention would be throwing games left and right- but they don't.

I think there is a far greater chance of the team losing it's next three games than winning them. I also believe we are in a pivotal period in the NFCW where two teams have talent and no QB, and one team has a QB and little talent. The Cardinals are assured of having a high draft pick next year, but I don't think a rookie QB makes them a contender before their talent (Dockett, Wilson, Fitz) are past their primes. When I look ahead a few years and ask myself if the Seahawks will have been better off making the playoffs, losing, and having a significantly worse draft pick than everyone in their division in 2011, I come back with "no, they will be better off with the higher pick."

I very much appreciate that you are a bird in the hand guy. There is wisdom there. I even buy that getting playoff experience could end up being more important than a high draft pick. Getting a taste of that can lead to improvement you can't get any other way.

But just like you and I can debate whether Jake Locker was better off staying an extra year or not, we can disagree about what's best for the Hawks.

It has no material effect on the season, and the bottom line is both sides want what they think is best for the team. The opinions are different, not less.

I totally understand where you're coming from. But I'm still on the don't want to be a 7-9 playoff team. I'd be annoyed as hell if it was another team in another division stinking up the playoffs with their losing presence, and I hold my own team to that same standard.

But I do 100% agree with you that you should never root against your own team for any reason. I tackled that dilemma back in 92 when the Hawks won the loser bowl against the Patriots. If we'd have just lost that Monday Night game to the Broncos (Pats won their 2nd game the week before) we could have drafted Bledsoe instead of Mire. But there is no way I'd give up one of my favorite Seahawk memories for a "What if" scenario. Especially when in the long run things ended up working out so that Mire turned into the Bears 1st round pick that was used to move up and grab Big Walt.

So I'm just gonna root like hell for the Seahawks to win a game in the next two weeks so I don't have to think about 7-9 playoffs anymore. If we lose the next two and that Rams game is for the Playoffs, I'll find a way to talk myself into wanting to be a 7-9 playoff team.

Meet Your Blogger

I've been a Twelve since 1983 (and I haven't missed a game since then). I've been a season-ticket holder since 1997, and I've been writing this blog since 2008. My all-time favorite Seahawks player is Dave Krieg, and my favorite current Seahawk is Russell Wilson. Thanks for stopping by! -Ramona Peel